Well, after ten days in a fast-paced Teaching Science class at MTSU, there's a lot rolling around in my head. Ideas for a future classroom...ways to encourage discussion and questions instead of rote answers...assessing prior knowledge. That last one's pretty interesting. We all have misconceived ideas about how things work or why they exist as they do. Some people think seasons are a result of the Earth's orbit around the sun. Some people think an unopened bottle of soda goes flat if you refrigerate it and then let it return to room temperature. Others think mushrooms are plants, or that nuts aren't fruits.
As a future educator, it will be partly my responsibility to dispel misconceptions, or alternate conceptions, as they're now referred to. I'll need to do it by guiding my students to the truth, not by simply telling them facts.
But, you know, sometimes a good misconception is worth having around. Like the April Fool's stories broadcast on NPR. Thousands of listeners eagerly tune in on April 1 each year, ready to be happily fooled. The stories -- all capitalizing on misconceptions -- never fail to disappoint.
Here are three of my favorite science-related misconceptions from this collection. Read or listen, and don't search for the truth.
Exploding trees!
Eye surgery for 3-D vision!
Danger! Dihydrogen Monoxide!
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